With this newsletter we find ourselves wrapping up the show year and feeling lazier by the day. There's something about this time of year that makes us want to forget about dressage (at least temporarily) and just trail ride. Maybe it's the beautiful fall colors and the cooler temperatures or maybe its just for a little break from the stress of training and showing but it seems we always wind down towards winter. There are a lot of people who use this time to make advances and we have to say that we really admire you! We often wonder how much farther ahead we would be if there was no winter. Then again, it sure is nice to get out on the trail, relax and just enjoy our beautiful scenery!

Congratulations

Congratulations to Seana Adamson and Christiana Noelting who were invited to ride in the Sonoma Chapter's Dressage Symposium with 7 time Olympian Lars Petersen from October 15 - 17th !!!

Lars Petersen is a 5 times Danish Champion, placed 4th in the World Cup in 2001, 5th in the European Championships and team bronze, 11th at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, 1st at the Danish Championships for 6 year olds, 2nd at the World Cup finals in the Netherlands and in November 2001 he ranked number 2 in the world for dressage.

Reminders

Time Change
Daylight savings time ends on October 30th. Don't forget to change your clocks for the show!

Tack Sale to Benefit Junior Members
Please remember that there will be a Tack Sale and Concession stand at the Pumpkin Roll show October 31st to benefit junior members of SNC. Donations of both English and Western tack/clothing are being accepted. Please be sure clothing items are clean and covered (to protect) before dropping them off. If you have an item or items that you would like to donate please contact Mary Anne Christensen at 972-5408.

Chapter Basket and Annual Meeting Update
The CDS Annual Meeting and Expo featuring Olympian Debbie McDonald will be held at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Burbank, CA on January 28th-30th, 2005.
Every year the various chapters of CDS take baskets of goodies to be presented and auctioned off at the Annual Meeting. Proceeds from the baskets go to the Travel Grant Fund. Cindy Hoonhout has volunteered to be the Sierra Nevada Chapter representative at the meeting. Thank you Cindy!!!!

"Dressage in Nevada"
Donations are needed for our chapter basket: This year we are looking for things related to Dressage in Nevada and most especially our area. Donation ideas include anything horse related: tack, stationary, candles, house wares, books, calendars etc and anything Nevada related: Pictures of our area, gifts relating to Tahoe or the mountains, certificates to attractions in our area, wine or locally made food items or gift items, gift certificates to local businesses and so on. Use your imagination! Any items, no matter how small... or how large... will be welcomed!! If you have an item or items you would like to donate, please contact Cindy Hoonhout at 853-0302.

Also on Saturday and Sunday at the Annual Meeting: "A progressive training scale demonstration from Training Level to Grand Prix with demonstration riders both Saturday and Sunday. How to use the basics to focus on training, as well as attention to rider position to get to the ideal."
(Copied from the 2004 September edition of Dressage Letters. Volume 11, I 9).

Transitions Information

CDS and USDF membership renewals should be arriving in your mailbox soon. In past years, SNC has also asked members to subscribe to the Transitions newsletter and pay a $10 subscription fee. The board has voted to eliminate this fee to members since we are now doing all of our newsletters online, so there will be no $10 fee this year. If you have moved or changed your email address or know of a member who has, please have them contact us so we can update the information. We will continue to keep contact information for the newsletter and for mailing of prize lists/entry forms and special events

Saddle Fitting Clinic

Madeline Zook wrote to us with the following offer for members: "If anyone would be interested, I would be happy to host/arrange for David Gilpin, British Certified Master Saddler to come here the middle of next month to help with saddle fitting issues. He will fit, reflock, adjust, and repair your saddle for a very moderate fee on the spot."
For more information, please contact Madeline at (775) 424-1947.
Thank you Madeline for the gracious offer!

Christmas Party News

As we wrote in the last newsletter, we will be having a club Christmas party again this year. Online invitations will be coming out (closer to Christmas) but here are a few details. Remember to mark your calendars.

The party will be Monday, December 13th from 6:30pm to 9:30pm at Susan Ward's house. This will be a potluck style party. Please bring an appetizer or dessert dish. Coffee, soda and water will be provided. Members, families and friends are welcome. We are asking folks to RSVP so we know how many to plan for.

Admission requirement will be one brown bag gift. The idea is simple and fun. Please bring a gift item, size and cost are not important, in a brown bag. Ideas for gifts can be anything from horsey stuff, ornaments, calendars, picture frames, gift certificates, tack, stable supplies to people items. Use your imagination! Brown bags will be auctioned off during the party. We would love to see you there!!!

We would also like to include clinic and/or special events to our 2005 calendar. If you know of a clinician coming to our area or any special events, please let us know and we will add it to the calendar.

2005 Awards Update

We are also currently working on new award ideas for the 2005 show season. New ideas are welcome, so if you have ideas for awards, please write to us or attend one of the chapter meetings!

2005 Board Of Directors

Its that time again!!! Voting of officers occurs by show of hands at the November meeting. For a more detailed description of positions, please check out our Chapter By-Laws link under Chapter info on the web site. Nominees are as follows:

Chairperson - Susan Ward

Director of Treasury - Cindy Hoonhout

Director of Communication - Steve and Michele Ting

Director of Shows - Lou Christensen

Director of Activity - The board as a group would manage activities. Carolyn Graebener has been nominated to help manage the Awards Party along with Susan Ward.

Director of Education - Jennifer Smith

Director of Junior Membership - Mary Anne Christensen

If you, or someone you know is interested in a position, please attend the November meeting!!

The monthly E-Newsletters are sent out to any Dressage Enthusiast that would like to subscribe. If you know of someone that would like to receive this E-news please have them contact us at snc-cds@charter.net. If you have a news item or announcement that you would like added to the monthly E-news or to the website please send it to snc-cds@charter.net.